Wii U review: Gone, but not forgotten

Storage

While every Wii U shares the same fundamental hardware, Nintendo have opted for two different storage options this time round, with the white “basic” Wii U model having just 8GB of internal flash memory, while the more expensive black “premium” model has 32GB.

Neither amount seems very much when the PS4 and Xbox One both come with 500GB of internal storage, but just like the Wii before it, storage can be expanded by a USB flash memory drive or, unique to the Wii U, an external hard drive. You’ll have to format your external hard drive to be used specifically with the Wii U, but once you’ve configured it, you can have as much as 2TB of storage at your disposal if you plan on downloading all your games instead of buying physical discs.

You’ll have to spend some time downloading a crucial system update as soon as you turn it on in order to get the Nintendo Network and Wii U eShop (Nintendo’s answer to the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live), an internet browser, and Miiverse (a kind of Twitter-esque social network where you can post messages to various communities tied to each game), but fortunately, it’s possible to download and install updates in the background when the console is in standby, and even when the console is switched off.

Interface

Nintendo’s clearly gone to a lot of effort elsewhere when it comes to giving the Wii U an online service worthy of an eighth generation console. The new home hub, for instance, is a vast improvement on the individualised TV channel-style layout of the Wii, and Nintendo’s new online strategy goes right to the heart of its new layout.

^ The Mii Plaza has been designed with the fan community in mind

When you first fire it up, a giant Mii Plaza appears on the TV where dozens of other European Mii characters are all huddled around ten individual game icons. Here you can read messages other players have posted to the MiiVerse, save their character to the Mii Maker app, and access their MiiVerse profile all at the touch of a button. You’ll see your fair share of French and German thrown in there, but doodles seem to be the most ubiquitous language in the Mii Plaza, so you shouldn’t have any trouble making your voice heard.

The GamePad, on the other hand, shows a much more traditional tile-based menu system that’s very similar to that of the Nintendo 3DS. Here you’ll find the usual buttons to access the games you’ve downloaded along with individual shortcuts to the eShop, MiiVerse, Mii Maker and Wii U Chat apps, but there’s also a YouTube app and apps for both Netflix and Amazon Instant Video. We were very pleased to see these apps present from day one, as media playback is crucial to a modern games console, plus that we didn’t have to go rooting around for these apps in the eShop like on original Wii. That said, there’s still no DVD (or Blu-ray) playback from the device.

^ The GamePad screen is much more practical, but you can switch to the Mii Plaza by tapping the button in the bottom corner

The June 2014 system update for Wii U also introduced a new Quick Start menu option. Once the update has been installed, turning the console on via the GamePad will let players pick from ten recently used games and apps on the GamePad’s touchscreen before you even get to the Mii Plaza. This lets you access your favourite games faster and cuts down on loading times, too, making it much easier to jump into a game as soon as you turn on the console.

For those that prefer to let the console load the Mii Plaza and traditional Wii U menu first, you can also switch between each interface by tapping the TV-to-GamePad icon in the bottom corner, letting you zoom in on other Miis and the various game icons. Tapping these icons on the GamePad also gives you a variety of options to help you find out more about it as well. You can start the game if you’ve bought it or already have it in the disc drive, go straight to its eShop page and download it from there, or you can go to its respective MiiVerse community and see what other people have been saying about it.

MiiVerse is a kind of Facebook-Twitter hybrid where “Yeah” is the new “Like” and each game has a player-generated feed of drawings and messages. You can follow other players without having to trade tedious Friend Codes (which, thankfully, Nintendo has now done away with entirely in favour of your personal Nintendo Network ID), and there’s also the chance to post screenshots and ask other players for tips as well, all of which can be done while your game’s still running. Just hit the Home button during play and the MiiVerse button will take you straight to the relevant community, making it easier than ever before to get help when you need it.

This level of easy communal access is completely unprecedented for a Nintendo system, and it just goes to show how much Nintendo have embraced the online aspect of modern day gaming, as traditionally their online efforts have been unwieldy at best, and completely atrocious at worst.

Wii U eShop

The Wii U eShop is also worlds better than the Wii’s text-heavy Shopping Channel. You really had to know what you looking for in order to find anything on Wii, but the eShop is almost like Nintendo’s take on the Windows 8 Store.

Big, eye-catching icons dominate the front page with all the major recent releases splashed across the screen, and this picture-based approach not only makes it much easier to navigate, but it’s also much more attractive to look at compared with the white, clinical screens of the Wii’s Shopping Channel.

Previously, you could only use the GamePad to navigate the eShop, but thanks to Nintendo’s July 2014 system update, you can now use any type of controller to browse the storefront, including the Wii U Pro Controller, the Wii Remote or the Classic Controller.